Willie And The Poor Boys

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All Rise...

Judge Victor Valdivia and his cronies are named Victor and the Poor Boys, only because they have no money.

The Charge

"Everyone went in to have a good time."—Bill Wyman

The Case

In 1985, then-Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman put together Willie and the
Poor Boys as a tribute to his beloved '50s rock 'n' roll. It was also intended
as a benefit for A.R.M.S. (Action Research for Multiple Sclerosis), the MS
charity headed by former Faces bassist Ronnie Lane, one of Wyman's closest
friends who suffered from the disease. The project initially began as an album
that Wyman recorded with an all-star band that included Wyman's fellow Stones
Charlie Watts and Ron Wood, ex-Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, former Bad
Company frontman Paul Rodgers, and Who/Faces drummer Kenney Jones, amongst
others. The album Willie and the Poor Boys consisted of '50s rock &
roll covers and original songs done in the same style. It was a mildly amusing
album that broke no new ground or stood up to repeated listenings, although it
did have a few good moments here and there.

To accompany the album's release, Wyman commissioned a Willie and the
Poor Boys home video, here reissued on DVD. Here is the track listing:

Don't be misled by the packaging: this is not a concert DVD. It's a
longform music video in which the core of the Poor Boys band, mainly Wyman,
Watts, Jones, and Wood, accompanied by singer Chris Rea and session musicians
such as guitarist Andy Fairweather-Low, pretend to perform for a '50s audience
in a small dance club as they lip-sync to songs from the album. There's a very
loose storyline in which the club's owner holds a dance contest and ends up
patronizing the club's janitor, played in a very brief cameo by Ringo Starr
(thus making hash of the DVD's claim that this marks "a collaboration
between members of the Beatles and The Rolling Stones"). There's
elaborately choreographed dancing and bad acting, but no actual live
performances.

Clocking in at a mere 30 minutes, this is as slight and forgettable visually
as you might expect. By the standards of music videos of the era (this was
released only four years after the launch of MTV), Willie and the Poor
Boys is a nice supplement but it adds nothing to the album. At least a
documentary about the recording of the album would have interesting, partly to
hear these major artists talk about the music they grew up with and also to hear
more about Lane and his battles with MS (he eventually died of the disease in
1997). Even a tribute concert might have been worth seeing, if only for a song
or two. This, on the other hand, is just pointless. Maybe back in 1985, this
would have been a decent extra but given that the album ultimately had a
negligible commercial and artistic impact means that this is hardly worth an
entire DVD release to itself.

The DVD is at least well-produced. The full-screen transfer looks pretty
solid, although like most video transfers from the era it does suffer from some
softness and fading. The surround mixes are loud but do sometimes sound
echo-laden and tinny. The sole extra is a featurette that lasts 30 minutes and
consists of behind-the-scenes footage narrated by Wyman. It tells way more about
this project than anyone really needs to know, although there are a few
interesting bits scattered throughout.

Ultimately, Willie and the Poor Boys isn't worth caring about, even
for hardcore Stones completists. While it's commendable that Wyman put together
such an elaborate project to benefit a worthy cause, it's not an especially
noteworthy one. Even if you really liked the album (which is hardly more than a
novelty one-off), this is not much of a companion piece. Both this video and its
accompanying featurette could have been appended to a CD reissue of the album,
but as a standalone release (especially bearing the list price of $19.95), it's
not something anyone is going to want to watch more than once. Save your
money.